MIT Technology Review - space explorationhttp://www.technologyreview.com/tagged/space-exploration/
enTwo Tickets to the Moon: Yours for Just $1.5 Billionhttp://www.technologyreview.com/news/508346/two-tickets-to-the-moon-yours-for-just-15-billion/
<p>Several ex-NASA officials are behind a company that plans to offer trips by 2020.</p><p>In 1961, President Kennedy said mankind would go to the moon. Eight years later we did. Would you believe a company that said the same thing?</p>Wed, 05 Dec 2012 23:05:00 +0000juniper.friedman508346 at http://www.technologyreview.comMars Rover Finds Puzzling Organic Traces in First Soil Samplehttp://www.technologyreview.com/news/508211/mars-rover-finds-puzzling-organic-traces-in-first-soil-sample/
<p>Curiosity sees tantalizing hints of compounds needed for life, but further analysis is needed to make sure it’s not contamination from Earth.</p><p>NASA announced yesterday that the Curiosity Mars rover has found small amounts of simple organic compounds—the building blocks of life—in three samples of Martian soil, but cautioned it is too soon to say whether the carbon in that material came from the Red Planet or hitchhiked there from Earth. Experiments on both the rover and in labs around the world will attempt to find the answer over the coming weeks.</p>Tue, 04 Dec 2012 18:29:00 +0000juniper.friedman508211 at http://www.technologyreview.comWhy We Can't Solve Big Problemshttp://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/429690/why-we-cant-solve-big-problems/
<p>Has technology failed us?</p><p>On July 21, 1969, Buzz Aldrin <a onclick="target=&quot;0&quot;" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGr2dTNACVQ" target="_blank">climbed gingerly</a> out of Eagle, <em>Apollo 11</em>’s lunar module, and joined Neil Armstrong on the Sea of Tranquility. Looking up, he said, “Beautiful, beautiful, magnificent desolation.” They were alone; but their presence on the moon’s silent, gray surface was the culmination of a convulsive collective effort.</p>Wed, 24 Oct 2012 04:00:00 +0000digitalservices429690 at http://www.technologyreview.comThe Deferred Dreams of Marshttp://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/429620/the-deferred-dreams-of-mars/
<p>Officially, the United States plans to send astronauts to the Red Planet in the 2030s. It’s not looking likely. But at NASA, engineers like Bret Drake keep plugging away.</p><p>In August, NASA used a series of precise and daring maneuvers to put a one-ton robotic rover named <em>Curiosity</em> on Mars. A capsule containing the rover parachuted through the Martian atmosphere and then unfurled a “sky crane” that lowered <em>Curiosity</em> safely into place. It was a <a href="http://www.ustream.tv/NASAJPL" target="_blank">thrilling moment</a>: here were people communicating with a large and sophisticated piece of equipment 150 million miles away as it began to carry out experiments that should enhance our understanding of whether the planet has or has ever had life. So when I visited NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston a few days later, I expected to find people still basking in the afterglow. To be sure, the Houston center, where astronauts get directions from Mission Control, didn’t play the leading role in <em>Curiosity</em>. That project was centered at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which Caltech manages for NASA in Pasadena. Nonetheless, the landing had been a remarkable event for the entire U.S. space program. And yet I found that Mars wasn’t an entirely happy subject in Houston—especially among people who believe that humans, not only robots, should be exploring there.</p>Wed, 24 Oct 2012 04:00:00 +0000digitalservices429620 at http://www.technologyreview.comThe Imperative to Explorehttp://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/429711/the-imperative-to-explore/
<p>Following our first “small step for man” with the <em>Apollo 11</em> landing on the moon on July 20, 1969, there was an expectation that mankind was embarking on our ultimate journey—the expansion of humanity into the cosmos. Unfortunately, more than 43 years since that remarkable event, we have made little progress toward this larger goal, save for extended human presence in low Earth orbit. One might question the very premise of our undertaking such a journey in the first place.</p>Wed, 24 Oct 2012 04:00:00 +0000digitalservices429711 at http://www.technologyreview.comPrivate Spacecrafts to Carry Humans Get NASA Fundinghttp://www.technologyreview.com/view/423813/private-spacecrafts-to-carry-humans-get-nasa-funding/
<p>NASA awards $269 million to the commercial industry to carry its astronauts to orbit.</p>Fri, 22 Apr 2011 04:00:00 +0000digitalservices423813 at http://www.technologyreview.comHumanoid Robots on the Moon in 1,000 Days?http://www.technologyreview.com/view/419650/humanoid-robots-on-the-moon-in-1000-days/
<p>A curious NASA mission, known as Project M, could send a robot to the moon, soon.</p>Fri, 02 Jul 2010 04:00:00 +0000digitalservices419650 at http://www.technologyreview.comObama Charts New Course for NASAhttp://www.technologyreview.com/article/418588/obama-charts-new-course-for-nasa/
<p>The president wants humans to explore the solar system by 2025–but his plan faces hurdles in the Senate.</p><p>In February, with remarkably little fanfare, <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/business/24441/" target="_blank">NASA released a budget proposal</a> that eliminated plans for a return to the moon, but <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/business/24512/" target="_blank">was vague</a> about where humans would be going next in space and when.</p>Tue, 20 Apr 2010 04:00:00 +0000digitalservices418588 at http://www.technologyreview.comSimulating Life on Marshttp://www.technologyreview.com/view/418257/simulating-life-on-mars/
<p>Six people will lock themselves in a Russian-built Mars simulator for 520 days.</p>Wed, 31 Mar 2010 04:00:00 +0000digitalservices418257 at http://www.technologyreview.comWhy NASA Needs a Better Planhttp://www.technologyreview.com/news/417443/why-nasa-needs-a-better-plan/
<p>Scott Pace says Obama’s mission for the agency is risky and unclear.</p><p>Last week, the Obama administration proposed <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/business/24441/" target="_blank">a new budget for the U.S. space program</a> that would cancel NASA’s efforts to develop new launch and transport technology and return humans to the moon by 2020. Instead, the budget focuses heavily on using the <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/business/23450/" target="_blank">commercial sector</a> to ferry astronauts to and from orbit. </p>Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000digitalservices417443 at http://www.technologyreview.com